Sunset Boulevard
by TheWaspMonster
Summary: Things happen even when you don't want them to. Especially to me. Things in Middle Earth used to be exactly the same as back home. Socially I mean. Nobody talked to me; I didn't talk to anybody else. It was my only real comfort, until Gandalf came along and ruined everything.
1. Prologue

Sunset Boulevard

Prologue

_This is only a Prologue. This is entended to be a_ multi-chapter_ story. I am currently looking for a beta. Contact me if you are interested._

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I jumped as the bus rode over the first of many potholes on the old highway. The highway was on the outskirts of the city and was very close to being shut down. The last time it had been fixed was before the war, and that was a long time ago. Now the yellow lines were only slightly visible against the worn pavement. I have no idea why the bus still used the highway to get kids home from school, but I was glad it did. The highway's best feature was its sunsets. All the factories on the horizon were built in such a way that, for ten whole seconds, I could get a perfectly clear view of the sunset. This was one of the only places of beauty in the city. This was one of the only joys of my time there.

I was thinking about how sunsets when I was riding to school on October Ninth. It was a Friday. I hated school. Not because of grades or bullying. It was boredom. School was easy for me, so naturally I was recommended for the "Gifted" program (which was disbanded shortly before my departure), but my father didn't want me to become "snob". Gym was already gone by the time I was in school, but I heard it was stupid so it didn't matter. I was mostly ignored. That was better than being picked on for not being a Dook. My father was a member. All of my family was members in fact. They tried to get me to join. It didn't matter; I had no love for my family. Most of them were idiots.

That Friday was normal, easily getting A's in all my classes', not socializing in the hallways, hating everyone. Average. I was in 9th grade at the time. Over half the kids had already left school to join the Dooks. Most of the students were girls. Girls were not allowed to be Dooks. The few teachers that cared about students thought I should have already been in college, another thing my father thought was inappropriate.

At 11 A.M. an older boy came up to me and asked me why I was always alone. He was 17, made B-C grades, and was a member. He was obviously put up to this by the Dooks. One tactic for recruiting members for the Dooks was to find lonely boys, get older "role models" to befriend them, and start taking them to meetings. This tactic had mostly been retired as most boys became members, like their fathers, but it was still used on some stupid middle scholars.

I was pissed. They thought I was retarded. I made fists to try and control my anger. I leaned in very close to him. I grabbed his shoulders and whispered into his ear very slowly, "If you ever say anything to me again, I will mace you until you're blind." He ran away.

He was only the first of a long list of shit things that happened that day.


	2. Chapter 1

I worked for a security company in the Iron Hills, in the Kingdom of Dain. I lived alone. I had a deal with the government that let me live on my own, as long as all my finances were kept in order. I was very good at this. This surprised the court. They thought that I would be out on the street in a week. I had never met Dain, but I have heard that he knew about me. He was apparently "interested" in my case. The prick.

Home was a small apartment in the ratty part of the city, the part of the kingdom that mamma dwarfs told their dwarfing's to avoid. I must be thankful that dwarfs eat communally, if not I would have starved. The only thing I can cook is T.V. dinners. Middle Earth sadly lacks in T.V. dinners. I hated public meals. I would have to walk over to the dining hall, get my food while the cooks stared at me like half my head was cut off, and sit in the back of the large dining hall while the people a table away from me either started to get up or started talking about me. There were always rumors about me.

I didn't live in the crappy neighborhood because I was poor. On the contrary, I was doing quite well. I made enough money to be considered middle class, but I made it go longer than that. I only wore simple black clothes. I never wore normal tunics like the other dwarves. I usually took the shortest normal black shirt I could find, cut the bottom to t-shirt length, and wear it under a cheap coat I had found in a thrift shop. It had no fur. I had to replace most of the buttons. I didn't wear jewels or gold or anything like that. I didn't even own any. I cut my hair short (as a wisp, as Farin, my boss said). All the money I made that I didn't use for my job or living went straight into the bank. I would probably be able to keep myself up for at least a year without a job.

My appearance was the reason some dwarves thought I should be adopted by a "good normal dwarven family." They thought I was troubled. They thought that i had had parents at one point. They thought my parents abused me. And worst of all, my parents didn't even teacher me about any dwarven traditions. My appearance was different than any other dwarf they had ever seen. They had even shuddered and looked at me with sad and bewildered eyes when it was revealed that I shaved.

I had thankfully had some good (and influential) people on my side. This included Farin, a few guards who were posted near my home (the guards only helped me because they were impressed when I almost killed a guy who was about to rape a young dwarf girl), two merchants I regularly bought from, and a wizard named Gandalf. In the end, I had to only lie about two things; that I had had an illness in my early years that slightly stunted my hair growth, and that I was unable to grow a beard yet. If I wanted to, I could grow my hair and beard as long as any other dwarf. I was an early bloomer.

These events are what led to me meeting Thorin Oakenshield. I barely knew Gandalf before the trial on whether I should be a ward of the state. He said he had heard of my story and sympathized with me. He told me one day, "John, you may be the strangest young dwarf I have ever met, but you are not crazy. You deserve your freedom like every other dwarf, even if you are a little peculiar." Gandalf made it very clear that he was not just doing it for free; he was doing this as a favor. I would have to later repay that favor at some point. He dose deserve some credit though. Without him, I would have had my job taken away, my freedom, and maybe even my money that I had earned.

I worked at Loni Security. It is not very well known to non-dwarves, that dwarves are very careful about whom they hire. I'm not talking about like regular mine workers; I'm talking about managers, jewel crafters, and weapon makers, the parts of society that are not just regular workers, and not rich untouchable dwarves. The dwarves that needed to be trustable, have a good reputation, and not bring the business to turmoil.

In the dwarven security business, there are three things that companies do. The first is protection. This is usually just where bodyguards watch a dwarf who is important, but not important enough to get royal bodyguards, such as the daughter of a wealthy merchant who is being stalked or a dwarf who is of vague royalty who just wants extra protection. Bodyguards cost lots of money, so they are only usually used by rich dwarves, or people who have no other choice.

The second thing security does is monitoring. This is when a stealthy dwarf will spy on a dwarves' home or place of business. This is usually done by former thieves. The strange thing about thieves is that, while some of them are just horrible people, many of them are the nicest dwarves you could ever meet. Most thieves didn't want to be thieves. They were forced to after Smaug stole Erebor. Many people went from well off, to dirt poor. Dwarves got to eat, and to eat you have to work. And when there's no work, you do what you can.

The third thing is background checks. This is where I come in. When a dwarven company is hiring a new high profile worker, they go to a security company and find the person who runs the security company. Then, they find a researcher to do a background check. After about two weeks, the dwarven company receives the report on their new worker. I do these reports.

I have a very unorthodox way of doing reports. Dwarves are some of the first pioneers of paperwork. Every work day in each company is somehow stored and filed. Every guard, no matter how small in rank, has to write a detailed report of every day. If you even get a warning by a guard, it's probably on record somewhere. Legally, these files are off limits to the public, but I had my resources.

Gandalf used his favor on September 1st. It was my day off. I received a raven at about 10 O'clock in the morning, telling me to come into the immediately. I was understandably pissed.

I came into Farin's office and the first thing I saw was Gandalf standing next to a plump, fork bearded, white haired dwarf. Farin was sitting in the back of the room with an unreadable face.

"Hello John," Gandalf said, "This is Balin."

Balin bowed and, with a bewildered look said, "At your service." He looked bewildered. He and Gandalf started talking. I could only catch the words dwarfling, hair, Thorin, and Mahal. Balin kept looking at Gandalf like Gandalf was tricking him. Gandalf looked totally amused. I walked over to Farin.

"Farin what's going on?" I asked him. He explained that Gandalf and Balin walked into his office that morning demanding to see me. Apparently they wanted me to do some background checks on some dwarves. Farin had tried to explain to them that I rarely come into the office, let alone meet my clients. The only times I usually went to the office was to deliver my reports, and to get my pay checks. I worked at home.

By the time Farin had explained everything to me, Gandalf and Balin had stopped fighting. I was told to sit down.

"We have a business proposition for you," Gandalf told me, "though this can also be seen as the settlement of debts. We need you to do a series of background checks on these dwarves."

He gave me a file holding some basic information on 5 dwarves. Their names were Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur.

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_I wrote this chapter after having surgery, which made me strangely hyper. I am still looking for a beta. Constructive criticism is always more than welcome. _


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